Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus review: Black & white

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus runs on the latest Snapdragon 821 chipset with 4GB of RAM. There is a more powerful Mi 5s Plus model with 6GB RAM and double the storage, too.

The Snapdragon 821 SoC improves on its predecessor with better power efficiency and higher performance. You can't have both at the same time though - the manufacturers can either opt for the slightly higher processor and GPU frequency for about 10% performance bump (as is the case with the Mi 5s Plus), or keep the original clocks in order to gain better battery life (as was with the Mi 5s).

So, Xiaomi chose speed for the Mi 5s Plus - it offers a more powerful quad-core Kryo processor with two cores ticking at 2.34GHz and two running at 2.19GHz. The Adreno 530 GPU is also clocked higher at the 652MHz frequency, about 5% higher than the same GPU inside the Snapdragon 820 chip.

A single Kryo core ticking at 2.19GHz shows quite the strength within the GeekBench 4 benchmark, 10% better than the 1.6GHz inside the Mi 5s, as promised. It bested the competition except for the A10 processor in the iPhone 7.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3473
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  1854
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  1815
• Huawei Honor 8
  1720
• OnePlus 3
  1719
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  1682
• Sony Xperia XZ
  1578

The four Kryo cores combined do great, as usual, but they can't compete with the combined power of the eight cores inside the Honor 8 (4xA53 + 4xA72) or the Galaxy S7 (4xMongoose + 4xA53), or the dual-core A10 Fusion CPU inside the iPhone 7.

The 10% bump on the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus is once again clearly visible in the multi-core results, which means Qualcomm fully delivered on its 10% performance jump.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  5664
• Huawei Honor 8
  5447
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  5245
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  4333
• OnePlus 3
  4045
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3987
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3868

Moving on to Basemark OS II 2.0 to look at some numbers representing overall performance. Here the Mi 5s Plus topped all other Android devices, but trails behind the iPhone 7 Plus. Still, it's a winner in its category and clearly demonstrates the strength of the Snapdragon 821 and the freshly optimized MIUI 8.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3796
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2434
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  2378
• OnePlus 3
  2365
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Sony Xperia XZ
  2151
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  2128
• Huawei P9 Plus
  2099
• Huawei Honor 8
  2099
• LG G5
  2065
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2050

The same goes for the other compound test - AnTuTu. The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus did better than all the flagship droids out there and leads with a chubby margin.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  173110
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  155185
• OnePlus 3
  141764
• LG G5
  134541
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  132084
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  131666
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  129229
• Sony Xperia XZ
  124266
• Huawei P9 Plus
  97392
• Huawei Honor 8
  94892

On the graphics front, the Mi 5s Plus does an excellent job with Basemark X scores, beating all smartphones we've put through it so far, while coming on par with the Mi 5s. The Adreno 530 is indeed a mighty performer.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  36240
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  36062
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• OnePlus 3
  32715
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  32345
• Sony Xperia XZ
  29548
• LG G5
  29456
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  28480
• Huawei Honor 8
  16592
• Huawei P9 Plus
  15058

The GFX tests reveal that the Mi 5s Plus raw performance is on par, but often better, than the other Snapdragon 820/821 devices, and can be bested only by Apple's A10 GPU.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  39
• OnePlus 3
  31
• Sony Xperia XZ
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• LG G5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  28
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  26
• Huawei P9 Plus
  10
• Huawei Honor 8
  10

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ
  20
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  18
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  16
• LG G5
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  15
• Huawei Honor 8
  6.3
• Huawei P9 Plus
  6.2

The Mi 5s Plus has an advantage over some of its competitors such as the Galaxy S7 and the LG G5, because of its lower screen resolution. The Adreno 530 is a monster when displaying 1080p resolution, though still not monster enough to beat the iPhone 7 Plus (also 1080p).

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  42
• Sony Xperia XZ
  32
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  32
• OnePlus 3
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• LG G5
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  15
• Huawei P9 Plus
  11
• Huawei Honor 8
  11

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  19
• Sony Xperia XZ
  19
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  16
• LG G5
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  7.9
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  7.8
• Huawei Honor 8
  6.9
• Huawei P9 Plus
  6.8

The Snapdragon 821 delivers the promised performance bump over its predecessor and the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus becomes among the first to adopt the latest flagship chipset by Qualcomm. It has great processing and graphic capabilities and no one should be worried for hiccups for the years to come.

The phablet succeeds in keeping it cool while under pressure, which means Xiaomi did a good job with the heat distribution, while Qualcomm did a good job keeping the temps down.

Xiaomi's Mi 5s Plus delivers flagship-grade performance and scores across all tests, games we ran, and a hiccup-free MIUI experience, and in the meantime, does not warm your hands. And with that our performance checklist is complete.